Dead Ringer
by fuyu-no-tsuki
Summary: A new house can be scary, especially when it's haunted. Can Al last through the nightmare that suddenly surrounds him?
1. Wild Imagination

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist © of Hiromu Arakawa.

Description: A new house can be scary, especially when it might be haunted.

AN: No pairings. It's a horror story so expect things you don't like. You have been warned... No, seriously.

WARNING- NC(Non descriptive), blood, violence, death

Chapter One- Wild Imagination

* * *

Streaks of blue-white light shone through the curtains onto the dusty hardwood floor. The mattress squeaked as it's inhabitant turned over and deep steady breathing could be heard from the other room. The house was empty but for these two. Furniture was sparse even the kitchen held little food. It had been lived in for a month now but one wouldn't know it.

A low groaning sound was heard as the wind blew and the old house responded. Then something else, like a whisper. Too low to make out.

It would be a long night if he couldn't get to sleep. After a while he realized that he was staring at the brass bars of the bed. The reflection looked odd in the dark, almost like a face behind him but it was distorted and couldn't be made out properly.

He leaned forward out of curiosity and found the closer he looked the more real it appeared. Then the eyes blinked open and stared strait at him with red irises like blood that began to blur and melt down towards the sheets.

He couldn't breath. Heart beating so fast he thought it would stop he made to move back but his hand slipped off the edge of the bed and he fell forward onto the floor.

In a panic he scrambled away from the darkness under the bed.

There was no one on the bed or anywhere else in the room.

"I'm not crazy it must be my imagination." He whispered to himself then fell silent in fear that he might miss a telltale sound.

Air blew through a crack in the window but he didn't hear anything else new.

But if that was new... It had been completely closed when he went to sleep. With trepidation he walked to the window and sure enough it was open about half an inch.

The noise stopped when he pulled it shut. Something like that could be easily overlooked right? It didn't mean anything.

He really was getting tired. He pulled back the covers and saw a single tiny drop of what looked like blood.

"OK, that's it." He mumbled to himself as he turned towards the door.

But then his brother would think he was being a baby, he couldn't prove that wasn't there before hand.

He stood frozen in uncertainty. It was probably all his imagination, in the morning he would think himself foolish but at least he would be the only one to think so.

Tears stung the corners of his eyes as he tried to make up his mind and in the end he decided that waking up Ed at this hour was much scarier then any prospective ghost.

The light (or lack there of) outside was beginning to turn a deep blue by the time he fell asleep. When he woke up he wasn't afraid anymore but when he remembered why he should be he felt himself tremble. Ever so slowly he turned to look at the sheet but the stain was gone.

"Maybe a dream then?" Alphonse asked himself with a sigh.

"Maybe what was a dream?" He saw Ed in the doorway. Now that was scary, Ed was up and it was still _morning!_Al stifled a giggle at the thought and told him what had happened, stressing the point of it being a dream.

"Really?" Ed crossed his arms as he spoke. "Because the same thing happened to me last night."

"It did?" He leaned forward on the bed.

"Nah, I had the best sleep of my life last night."

"You have 'the best sleep of your life' every night Niisan."

"True, I'm going back to bed."

"Hey! Why did you get up in the first place then?" He shouted as Ed left the room and got a response muffled by the wall that sounded something like "I dun-oh"

Al sighed and briefly considered going back to sleep as well. Unlike Ed he hadn't slept that great but there was way to much to do.

Almost wishing he was back facing the horror of the previous night he got up and ready to clean the house once and for all.

As he swept the thick dust covered floor he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye but ignored it. He was to busy now to worry about ghosts and the such but when it wouldn't stop he turned and saw it definitely wasn't a ghost. A swarm of cluster flies gathered over something that might well be a dead mouse. It's flesh was eaten away by decomposition and insects. He would have to clean that up but right now he was not in the mood.

"Don't do that!" He scolded Ginger, the kitten Ed had gotten him. It was ready to pounce on the mass. She perked up when he spoke to her and rubbed against his legs purring. She loved attention more then anything.

He patted his hip and she obediently stood, leaning against his leg for support. That way he could pet her without bending over but normally she did this when she wanted to be picked up.

His mind off the mess for now he contemplate the kitten. Sometimes he could swear they were just like babies.

"I have to get back to work now Gin but if you're good I'll let you sleep in my room tonight." He set down the disappointed ball of fluff

Seeing exactly how extensive a mess was left made him change his mind. Maybe he should make breakfast while it was still morning.

He could hear Ed snoring as he walked into the kitchen and broke eggs into a pan. He also made sausages and toast and set out two plates and two glasses of orange juice.

"Niisan? Wake up."

"Go away, I want to sleep more." Al had eventually learned to understand Ed when he talked with his face buried in the pillow.

"Breakfast is ready."

"Oh, food. OK then." Ed sat up zombie like and followed Al to the food. One of the few things he prized as much as sleep.

After, Ed made coffee and they sat talking. This was the best part of Al's day. Before Ed got caught up in something or had to go off somewhere, sometimes for days at an end. It could get lonely sometimes with his brother gone and no one else around for him to talk to... In a huge empty house deprived of life. There was only so many times he could explore its rooms or the village. It actually scared him more then the house did with it's inhabitants always giving them odd looks. Whenever they bought something there was never a line because the store cleared out and the clerk would try to hurry them along. Then again he hadn't been scared of the house at all until last night.

"Al? You in there?" Ed managed to get Al's attention off of his cup.

"Sorry Niisan, I was just thinking we have to get more groceries."

""Uh-huh." Ed didn't sound like he believed him but wasn't about to argue about it. "You know if you want to talk about anything I'll listen right? I might not give the best advice but it's better then nothing."

For a second Al looked up at him and considered telling Ed everything that had happened and everything that was bothering him. There wasn't much Ed could do about it and he didn't want to make him sad too. He especially didn't want to be felt sorry for. "No. It isn't anything really. I guess I'm in a strange mood today, actually I'm really tired. I didn't sleep well."

"Oh yah, you had a dream right?" He felt Al's forehead.

Who laughed at the effort. "You don't get sick from having dreams."

"You still have been acting weird, maybe you're coming down with something. You are a bit warm."

Al looking surprised put the back of his hand against his head. Ed was right.

"Maybe you should go back to bed."

"No. I have way to much to do."

"Well, promise that you'll take it easy. I have to fill out some paperwork but I'll come see how you're doing later."

"OK." Their fifteen minute visit with each other was over once again. But this time Ed stopped as he walked past to squeeze Al's hand before continuing on.

That made Al smile even if the rest of his day seemed terrible. He really did have the best big brother ever. He was lucky, if he asked Ed would give up everything. He would stop his research and would spend more time with him. Al would never ask that though. Besides the fact that they needed the money he knew Ed loved the research. Al loved alchemy too and liked to help Ed out now and then so he knew how Ed felt and would feel if he wasn't able to be apart of it anymore.

There was something, maybe he would try and find some new books.

Enough time had been waisted, it was nearly noon, time to get back to work. It took all day but he managed to rid the entire first floor of dust. It seemed impossible to do. Last time he had started cleaning it was just as bad if not worse within a week. This time he had cleaned everything not only the floors. Tomorrow he would clean upstairs.

Al hummed as he put away the broom. He was sure he had heard this tune before but couldn't place it.

It was getting late, well past nine and he had been so caught up he hadn't eaten since breakfast. It didn't seem that long ago. By this time Ed would have given up and made himself something so he fished around for a bit and came up with some bread and butter with cheese and a glass of milk. Not much but he wasn't that hungry.

Before he took the bread out of the bag he remembered he hadn't washed his hands so, hoping Ginger didn't spot the food, he went to the bathroom to wash up.

Splashing water on his face he looked up and froze. Reflected in the tarnished mirror was a distorted face like he had seen the night before.

He couldn't make a sound, couldn't draw a breath. He collided with the shower door as he backed away and the image got closer like it was walking up to the mirror from the other side. Everything looked like a blur now, not just her. Clammy hands touched his skin and he felt breath against his neck accompanied by a strong sense of violation.

When he woke he was on the bathroom floor and felt tired as if all the energy had been drained from his body.

Ginger was clawing at the door meowing. It all must be in his head. Maybe if he got a good night's sleep for once his mind would settle down.

On his way out he scooped up the kitten and went strait for bed. Falling asleep as soon as he lay down despite everything. Exhaustion outweighed fear it seemed.

Fully night now he was in a deep state of sleep and only barely registered the hiss. Alphonse rolled over thinking he must have lay on Ginger's tail.

XXX

Birds tweeted outside and morning light shone through the curtains. He awoke feeling refreshed but when he reached his hand out to pet Ginger she wasn't there. Or anywhere else in the room for that matter. The door was closed so she couldn't have gotten out on her own. A strange urge compelled him to look for her but it proved harder then he first thought. Eventually his search lead him upstairs to a part of the house rarely used.

Oddly one of the doors was open that should have been locked. Maybe Ed had gone in? Considering that if Ed was in there Ginger probably followed him.

When he entered he saw the worst sight yet, worse then the bloody image in bed or the bathroom mirror.

His new kitten was in the room but oh how he wished it wasn't. Glass littered the floor. She lay curled in a stiff ball, bits of rib could be seen through her rotting flesh. Like the mouse from the day before.

She was cut up by the glass around her but how was all this possible? It couldn't be. There hadn't even been a mirror in here, definitely not a broken one.

He knelt beside her knowing it was pointless and checked her. She definitely was dead. The fact couldn't register in his mind. It wasn't possible. It wasn't _fair._

Then he saw Her again. Her face reflected a thousand times in each shard of glass. Staring at him with malice, her red bleeding eyes wishing him worse then death. Everything began to get dark again then he realized it was dark. It was dark outside! And he was screaming.

Morning hadn't come yet he was still in bed along with his kitten. It had all been a bad dream.

Ed wouldn't be happy, even he couldn't sleep through that. Right? After a few minutes passed and Ed hadn't come rushing in to see if he was safe he began to wonder. With growing dread he found Ed's room empty.

Holding Ginger tightly in his arms he proceeded to climb up the stairs to where he had found the kitten in his dream. Just like before the door was open.

Al stopped outside of it, his hand frozen about to touch the door knob, straining to listen.

When he realized he would either have to look or give up and go to bed he plunged into the room like a skydiver jumping out of the plain. No turning back.

What he saw startled him.

Also like his dream he found glass littering the floor but unlike his dream nothing sinister was there. Or anywhere else in the house. It was like nothing was wrong or ever had been. Except of course his brothers disappearance.

Maybe this was another dream? He really couldn't tell the difference anymore.

Why was this happening now? They had been here for a month and there hadn't been one sign of anything out of place.

Now he was left in a world of solitary insanity.

* * *

Footnotes!

We all know this has to be Alphonse because if anything ever tried to haunt Ed he would bash its face in or yell at it to leave him alone then go back to sleep.

And now I am ging to go eat leftover spaghetti. Even though it is six in the morning.


	2. Timeless

Disclaimer: Once again, me no own FMA. Kay, kay?

AN: Have fun! And we all know horror is fun, especially when it's happening to someone else. .

Chapter Two- Timeless

* * *

Al had gone down to the living room where he sat with his eyes squeezed tightly shut like it would somehow help block out the horror of the world around him. Every once in a while something brushed against his cheek something that might be his imagination, or might not.

Why would Ed be gone in the middle of the night? There were reasons of course but it still unnerved him.

Music played lightly from somewhere in the house. He had to strain to hear it and even then he wasn't entirely sure he actually had heard something.

It was pretty, soothing. It was what he had been humming before and what he had heard in his dreams though he didn't know until now.

He got up feeling strangely drawn to it and made his way to the top floor. Sweet, harmless. It wouldn't hurt him. It was much nicer then all the other things he had seen.

That room again but it was different this time. The mirror wasn't broken anymore it was perfectly intact and looked new.

He wasn't reflected in it though but rather a girl wearing a billowy white night gown. Blond hair flowed loosely about her shoulders giving her an ethereal look. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

He just wanted to be with her, sooth her pain.

Forever.

XXX

Ed walked with his head slumped forward and his collar up. Rain poured down so strong it was hard to see. Al had been busy and he hadn't wanted to bother him so he had gone out to eat but then the storm started. The waitress insisted that he stay and wait it out so he did but there was no signs that it would let up and he didn't want to spend the entire night in the crowded stuffy restaurant.

Besides it was just rain. He could handle it and must have because he could see the house. Maybe the rain would finally get it clean...

He could see a light on from upstairs so he went to check it out. Why was Al up at this hour? He always nagged Ed about staying up late and this definitely qualified as late.

His little brother was standing infront of a huge mirror. Framed by silver intricate decorations. Lifting a hand towards the glass as if he wanted to touch something Ed could not see.

It was so strong. The sense of danger that Al would be hurt if he didn't do something. "Alphonse?!"

Al turned slowly, the light leaving his eyes and fell forward. In his panic to get to him Ed nearly missed it, something in the mirror like a person had been standing behind him and turned out of sight.

"Al?" He seemed to be in a state of partial consciousness. He looked at Ed like he couldn't really see him then winced and made a pained sound in the back of his throat.

"What the hell is going on?!" He didn't know what to do. Why did Al have to suffer all the time, wasn't anything they did ever enough? It was like the world decided it didn't like them from the moment they where born.

"Please snap out of it..." But he wouldn't. He wouldn't wake up and Ed couldn't decide if it would be safe to move him or not so he stayed and waited it out. And hoped.

XXX

Alphonse reached out his hand. His finger brushed against where hers should be but instead felt the cold smooth glass.

In that instant he felt a connection. Blood rushed to his head, his heart beat faster as time around him froze. It was like moving through mud, slow so hard...

At the same moment he heard Ed call his name and his last thought was it was too bad he hadn't gotten there a second earlier.

XXX

It was almost like everything had turned black and white but that wasn't quite it. More like a tint of golden brown that made him think of autumn. He watched the girl he had seen in the mirror but it was like he wasn't really there. At the same time he watched he saw and felt from her perspective as well. It was disorienting at first but he adapted.

She was crying silent tears under the covers. HE was coming tonight but Al didn't know who HE was.

It was his room she was in but it was clean and the house looked new. The bed and everything else wasn't in the same place as it was now and some of it was completely different. He thought the bed sheets where a rose colour but with brown being the only thing he could see it was hard to tell.

Her fear was contagious and made him anxious. He wanted it to get over with. Something was going to happen. Something happened every night here but Al had a feeling it wasn't what had been happening to him.

Footsteps. Someone was coming. They where alone in this house. This girl and the man that entered. Alone with the phantom he was here. Neither was aware of him and he knew he was seeing something that had already happened.

With shock Al saw that the man looked a bit like himself. His hair was close to the same length and was the same colour but he was older then Al by at least six years. It wasn't an exact resemblance or something impossible but close enough that someone might think they where related.

Terry sat on the bed beside her. Somehow he knew the man's name and now that he thought of it he knew the girls too. Angel. It suited her, she looked just like one.

Terry was humming to her as he watched her. Then began to stroke her side, still humming as his hands wondered.

Then the images sped up and he couldn't keep track of them, all he knew was that it hurt.

A grin then he was trapped.

"I'll get my revenge girl. You think what you felt before was bad? Now you'll wish you hadn't told."

With that ominous promise he woke up. Ed was holding him against his chest and Al clung to him like that would somehow save him. Unfortunately this was one time that Ed couldn't come to the rescue.

"I think I'm going insane." He muttered. He hadn't meant to but Ed heard all the same. He didn't say anything though. Just stroked his only family's hair and wished it could all go away. That he had payed more attention to what had been happening right in front of him. Al wasn't crazy. This was something else. Something was happening and he had no idea how to deal with it.

The dripping sound was starting to get annoying but it wasn't like water dripping. Ed looked around and saw red wax dripping onto the floor from an unlit candle.

"That wasn't lit before..." Al had seen it too. If it wasn't lit now and hadn't been then how was the wax melting?

"Are you OK?" He was scared that something still might be wrong. More wrong then everything else already was.

"I'm fine now, really." He felt drained but that was good considering.

Ed really wished they hadn't moved out here. It was a village far away from anywhere they knew. They had no one to ask for help or to stay with. There wasn't even an inn.

Al knew they couldn't leave. What ever had happened had linked him irreparably to the house.

Besides, he wanted to know what had happened to her, he wanted to help.

They heard something buzzing and it got louder. They both froze seeing a huge wasp crawl around the candle only to be covered in wax.

Laughter filled the house, echoing off the walls.

* * *

Footnotes!

There, the second chapter. Wow my chapters are short. Oh well, that means they're done faster right?


	3. Painfull

AN: It's been so long Sigh But I may finish this up more quickly then I originally wanted to. Probably just one or two chapters left, still undecided.

Chapter Three-Painful

* * *

Ed hadn't left Al alone since he'd found him. He wanted to ask everything that had happened, that he'd missed, but was afraid it would make Al sad or summon the evil presence back.

The house seemed darker now though it was only perspective. All the lights in the room where lit and nothing was out of place. There was a chance that she could only do so much at a time. Maybe it strained her but then when had anything ever been made easier for them? It was impossible. Trouble was drawn to them no matter what they did. At least fighting was something he understood, something he could do.

All this time Al had been hurting and he hadn't been there for him. He'd seen Al was distracted, he should have pushed to find out by what. He would never make that mistake again.

Al was sleeping now though it was difficult to tell if it was from exhaustion or something less natural. He was on the couch and Ed in a chair. Unlike Al he wouldn't be sleeping this night; he had to keep watch.

XXX

It was nice at first. Such a calm sunny day. Angel let the warmth of it dry her tears. She hated him so much she just wished he would fall down the stairs and she'd be left alone.

But at night she wished far worse of him.

How could her mother be so blind? She had married Terry with barley a year having passed after her husband had died; despite her daughters pleading and the disapproval from the villagers.

She'd always known her parents weren't close but normally her mother paid more attention to what people said and thought.

She said she loved him though so Angel had given up and grudgingly decided if it made her mother happy she could bear it.

That is until he started to act strangely around her. Touching her in ways that should have been perfectly normal but she could tell. His hand would linger to long as he passed her or his knee would 'accidently' brush against hers a bit too often.

She hadn't said anything, she couldn't prove it and feared her mother would be angry. Now she wished she had. That she'd had the courage to tell. But it had gotten so much worse and she was just as afraid of rejection from the only person she had left as she was of him.

Her entire world had become so small. Like a mouse in a trap she couldn't escape from it. If only she could wake up someday and be someone else. That simple, no attachments, no memories, no more living in terror.

Sitting on the grass in daylight she was safe. He wouldn't try anything when he could get caught. It didn't feel safer though, she knew it was only a matter of time until the sun set. An endless cycle, count the seconds, pretend to live and die again every night.

A breeze caught her hair and she felt a familiar presence near her.

She fought the tears and stayed still as a statue as if it would somehow make him miss her.

But she couldn't even be allowed her solitude; she could hear the grass rustle as he came to her. She didn't have to look to know it was him. He wouldn't try anything but taunt her right now.

If only she could cling to the sun...

XXX

Al stirred, sitting up suddenly and had to lay back again, trying to orientate himself.

It broke his heart to think what had happened to her. He couldn't change it but he wished there was some way he could help her now. It had been so long and she was trapped in her memories this whole time.

If only she could see he wasn't who she thought then maybe she would listen to him. The only problem was figuring out how to do that.

It was a dangerous game he was playing. Risking his life for her peace. But he would do it because it he didn't it would haunt him forever even if she didn't and because he hated to see people hurting.

If there was a way to help he would find it, or die trying.

It was just who he was.

* * *

Yet another really short chapter but at least it's here at all? ;;;

XD, Why did I just think of lemons?


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